The Week Ahead: July 31-Aug. 4

A look ahead to the week's doers and doings in business entertainment and technology:

When to watch: Sunday, July 30, to Wednesday, Aug. 2. If you're a high-flying politician, getting an invitation to
Rupert
Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
's annual conference in Pebble Beach, Calif., will feel like a cross between getting Willy Wonka's golden ticket and a notice from the dentist that you're due for a root canal. Four days with the head of
News Corp.
, the most powerful media boss on Earth, can make or break a jaunt for the seat of power. This week, Murdoch has skimmed the cream of the political world to schmooze and foster those all-important ties, including U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. senators and presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and John McCain, presidential "hoped-for" Al Gore (who'll be screening his apocalyptic social commentary An Inconvenient Truth) and naturally, the ubiquitous rock star Bono. For the politicos, this little get-together is a critical opportunity. Blair, for one, is nearing the end of his tenure as prime minister, and he will likely be inclined to keep his relationship with the media mogul--till now seen in the unabashed support of Murdoch's Sun newspaper--alive, even after he leaves 10 Downing Street. It's perhaps even more critical for Clinton to keep relations sweet with the billionaire. Until recently, Murdoch's New York Post had been backing the senator, but last week the tycoon said in an interview that he was now tilting toward her rival John McCain. Cue ever-broader smiles through Clinton's gritted teeth when chatting over martinis this weekend with the likes of Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the house who once tried to impeach her husband. Gingrich is now a commentator for News Corp.'s Fox television. Murdoch certainly does bring people together. --Parmy Olson

When To Watch: Monday, July 31. The cat's out of the bag as far as UAL's
July 31 earnings report goes. The parent company of United Airlines was so excited to be flying back in the black, it blurted out its results a week early. Chief Executive
Glenn
Tilton
Glenn Tilton
said that a better yield from rising passenger traffic would lead to a second-quarter operating profit. UAL has not been profitable since 2000, after which a sea of troubles--such as higher industry-wide costs, management issues and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks--led the company to file for bankruptcy protection. It has pre-announced second-quarter earnings of 93 cents per share, versus Street estimates of 46 cents, on net earnings of $119 million. It's a heartwarming story of triumph over adversity for Tilton, who came to UAL in 2002 from ChevronTexaco and set about gutting the airline of as many labor-related costs as possible. However, he is handsomely compensated for the work he does; we estimate Tilton to be the second-best-paid airline CEO in the world. Tilton recently reiterated his call for the elimination of government regulations that he said are holding U.S. airlines back from competing with emerging international "super-carriers." --Chris Noon

When to watch: Tuesday, Aug. 1. No one can blame
Burger King
Chief Executive Officer
John
Chidsey
John Chidsey
for being a little nervous this Tuesday. That's when he'll make his first quarterly earnings announcement since Burger King became a publicly traded company in May. The stock has fallen nearly $2 since the company's $425 million IPO hit the market at $17 per share. That's despite the good reviews of Burger King's turnaround plan during its run as a private company, which included closing underperforming restaurants The IPO held enough of an attraction to bring in some of Wall Street's heaviest hitters--
J.P. Morgan Chase
,
Citigroup
,
Goldman Sachs
and
Morgan Stanley
led the underwriting. Chidsey, 43, probably won't want to disappoint analysts looking for 21 cents per share. He is the 11th CEO to come through BK's revolving door since 1989, part of a tumultuous run that's seen the company owned by the likes of Pillsbury and Grand Metropolitan, the British firm that bought Pillsbury in 1987. Yet through it all, the company maintained an identifiable brand image and remained the No. 2 hamburger chain behind
McDonald's
. Chidsey took over as CEO a month before the public offering from turnaround specialist John Brennamen, a move that drew criticism from those who though of a pending IPO as a bad time to shuffle the management ranks. But with the spruced-up company poised to enter its next phase back in the public markets, it would seem to make sense to replace a turnaround specialist with someone versed in heavy operational lifting. Chidsey showed he could be aggressive when he served as president and chief financial officer prior to his ascension to the top job. Last October, he severed Burger King's relationship with the National Franchise Association, complaining that it failed to back the company in its efforts to cut menu prices and add restaurant hours as part of its turnaround plan. – Tom Van Riper

When to watch: Tuesday Aug. 1. It's time for
Eastman Kodak
to show its true colors. Chief Executive
Antonio
Perez
Antonio Perez
has been guiding the photography giant through the rocky transition to digital imaging, and though he's shown some encouraging results, things are still looking blurry. Kodak has posted losses six quarters in a row, and analysts aren't expecting that downward arc to turn around any time soon. When the company delivers its second-quarter earnings report Tuesday, revenue is expected to decline 5% from the second quarter of last year, to $3.5 billion from $3.7 billion. And earnings per share could fall as much as 55%, to 24 cents from 53 cents. But Perez says this is all part of an ambitious revitalization plan he outlined back in 2002. Results have been mixed: Digital imaging revenue surpassed traditional film for the first time in 2005, but the company also lost its market-leading position in U.S. digital camera sales last quarter. Perez isn't afraid to make tough decisions. He's laid off 25,000 employees, shut factories and consolidated operations worldwide. In May, he said he'd consider selling the company's underperforming medical imaging group. Mostly, Perez is billed as a visionary, focusing on a next generation of photography as digital technology evolves past the limitations of film. The company has made good use of its well-respected R&D team this year, turning out nifty and stylish dual lens, wireless and panoramic cameras as well as introducing lots of image storage software. The cameras are deliberately consumer-friendly: They perform well, look good and are easy to use. Though Kodak's future is still very much in shadows, the third and fourth quarters should brighten the financial picture as consumers head into the money-spending holiday season. – Danit Lidor

When to watch: Wednesday, Aug. 2. There's not much new under the sun in pulp, paper, packaging and plywood. It's a ho-hum business, and that's one reason why old-line enterprises such as
International Paper
can't offer the tantalizing prospect of explosive future growth. On Tuesday, Wall Street analysts expect
John V. Faraci
Jr.
John V. Faraci Jr.
, chairman of the Memphis, Tenn., company, to report second-quarter 2006 earnings of 33 cents per share, up from 31 cents for the same period a year ago. The company also makes specialty chemicals such as turpentine, a byproduct of pulp processing unlikely to goose investor interest. In March, International Paper, the Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund struck a deal to sell about 218,000 acres of timberland in ten states, making it one of the largest private land conservation sales in the nation. The Nature Conservancy will acquire about 173,000 acres in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi. The Conservation Fund will acquire about 5,000 acres in Florida and 500 acres in North Carolina. The two groups will jointly purchase an additional 39,000 acres in South Carolina. The $300 million deal is expected to close later this year. But International Paper isn't getting out of the forest products business. It manages about 8.3 million acres of timberland in the United States and has extensive holdings in Brazil and Russia. International Paper's competitors include
Georgia-Pacific
,
MeadWestvaco
, Boise Cascade,
Louisiana-Pacific
, CanFor and
Weyerhaeuser
. -- Scott Reeves